Low life Victorian police exposed
THE Office of Police Integrity has won an award for its role in a controversial probe into a racist and pornographic email scandal that rocked Victoria Police. Eight officers were sacked and at least another 13 were demoted or fined over the scandal.
Healesville sergeant Tony Vangorp took his life in March last year after he was suspended and told he faced the sack over inappropriate emails.
Three officers were involved in circulating video footage of an Indian man being electrocuted and suggesting it could be a way to fix Melbourne's Indian student problem. The scandal made headlines in India in October after the Herald Sun revealed details of that video.
The investigation was one of the most controversial in the force's history, dividing members over the seriousness of the officers' actions and what should happen to them. Those sacked included a long-serving member of the Ethical Standards Department and three sergeants.
The first batch of offensive emails were discovered during an OPI investigation of another matter. The OPI then had an oversight role during Victoria Police's investigation, Operation Barrott.
Offensive emails identified during Barrott's sweep of the police computer network contained pornographic, homophobic, racist and violent material, but nothing illegal, such as child porn.
The Institute of Public Administration awarded the OPI the Australia Award for Risk Management.
OPI director Michael Strong said a program had been developed to assist police in assessing the relative gravity of the behaviour of hundreds of police members caught in Operation Barrott.
He said some of the emails detected in the operation had depicted graphic violence, which was at times linked to racial slurs. "What we set out to do was to establish a matrix against which the behaviour of police members could be measured to try to ensure fair and consistent outcomes in the discipline process," he said.
SOURCE
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Qld. Cops soft on their own
CMC chief Martin Moynihan says lax internal investigations erode public confidence in police, writes Renee Viellaris
The head of Queensland’s crime watchdog has accused police of having double standards and urged the service to rigorously investigate members accused of wrongdoing. Crime and Misconduct Commission chairman Martin Moynihan said some police shielded their own from scrutiny but he denied the problem was endemic
He stressed that the pre-Fitzgerald era of widespread police corruption had not returned to Queensland but said vigilance was needed. The former Judge has provided a frank assessment at the anniversary of his first year in the Job and his comments are likely to further antagonise senior police.
"Community confidence ln the police has to start with the police cultivating it", Mr Moynihan said. Community confidence was undermined when complaints from the public were investlgated by officers belonging to the same police unit as the alleged offenders.
Asked if it was a perception or reality that there was one rule for police and one rule for others, Mr Moynihan said, "I think it's probably both". He said it was worth serious consideration to limit the time any police commissioner could serve. Commissioner Bob Atkinson has been in power for a decade. Many senior government positions have fixed terms. Asked whether Mr Atkinson was doing a good job, Mr Moynihan said, “I think he’s doing OK. I mean, he’s doing his job".
Mr Moynihan singled out “heroic”- young police who spoke out about the bad apples in the service. Constable Bree Sonter blew the whistle on then-Senior Constable Benjamin Price, 32, who shoved a hose down the throat of Timothy Steele, 24, at Airlie Beach ln 2008. Price is no longer in the service. Mr Moynihan said more police would come forward if they felt they would be supported by the system.
(Police Union president) Ian Leavers is always saying to me that honest police get tarred with the same brush so I keep saying to him if that's their concern if they step up when they see what's going on then they can contribute to that not happening, Mr Moynihan said
The QPS has moved to fix some procedural weaknesses but sources say it is the high-profile cases that polarise the organisation. At the heart of that analysis is the Palm Island saga sparked after Cameron Doomadgee, also known as Mulrunji, died in custody in 2004. The CMC took aim at four police who investigated Doomadgee's death and the two officers who conducted a review of the initial death in custody investigation. Last year when Mr Moynihan released the CMC's review of the matter he said the original investigatlon and review were seriously flawed. They were characterised by double standards and an unwillingness to publicly acknowledge failings on part of the police, he said.
Misconduct disciplinary action was recommended against the four original investigators and disciplinary action against the reviewers. Mr Atkinson appointed Deputy Commissioner Kathy Rynders to determine whether the six officers should face any disciplinary action. Recently, she found they should receive managerial guidance [only].
Before that decision was announced, The Sunday Mail asked why Mr Atkinson had appointed Ms Rynders, given the CMC had appealed against her findings in the past. The response, which is being put on the record for the first time, highlights the tension with the CMC and the frustration of Mr Atkinson - who ticked off on the statement. “If there were concems they (CMC) could have voiced them or assumed responsibility for the matter,” the statement said. “They have a range of formal avenues open to them if they are unhappy with the outcome of the disciplinary process.”
The CMC is now considering Ms Rynders’ findings and will announce its position in coming weeks.
Above article appeared in the Brisbane "Sunday Mail" on 20 Feb., 2011
Another thug Qld. cop abusing his police powers
A police officer who was demoted for misconduct after he injured his former police lover, when he handcuffed her during an off-duty argument, has lost an appeal.
Jane Moran, who was then a constable, ended up with a fracture to her right eye socket, facial bruises and abrasions and tenderness to her neck, arms and wrists.
In February last year, after a police disciplinary hearing found Mount Isa police prosecutor Mark McKenzie had inappropriately and forcibly detained Ms Moran, he was demoted from sergeant to senior constable for two years. He appealed against the decision.
Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal was told Sen. Constable McKenzie, a police officer for 18 years, would suffer a financial loss of almost $34,000, and it would take him six years to progress to the position of sergeant.
The incident involving Ms Moran occurred on March 1, 2008, at police accommodation in Mount Isa. The tribunal heard the couple argued and Sen. Constable McKenzie claimed he became concerned for his safety because there was a knife within reach of Ms Moran. He claimed he restrained Ms Moran, using reasonable force, to defend himself, the tribunal heard.
She denied any knowledge of the knife, but admitted she got into a fight with Sen. Constable McKenzie. The hearing found that Sen. Constable McKenzie grabbed Ms Moran by the wrist, forced her face down on the bed with his knees in her back and handcuffed her.
After calling for police “back-up", which did not eventuate, Sen. Constable McKenzie escorted Ms Moran to the door and removed her handcuffs. The tribunal found Sen. Constable McKenzie’s demoiion was appropriate.
Above article by Kay Dibben appeared in the Brisbane "Sunday Mail" on 20 Feb., 2011
CMC chief Martin Moynihan says lax internal investigations erode public confidence in police, writes Renee Viellaris
The head of Queensland’s crime watchdog has accused police of having double standards and urged the service to rigorously investigate members accused of wrongdoing. Crime and Misconduct Commission chairman Martin Moynihan said some police shielded their own from scrutiny but he denied the problem was endemic
He stressed that the pre-Fitzgerald era of widespread police corruption had not returned to Queensland but said vigilance was needed. The former Judge has provided a frank assessment at the anniversary of his first year in the Job and his comments are likely to further antagonise senior police.
"Community confidence ln the police has to start with the police cultivating it", Mr Moynihan said. Community confidence was undermined when complaints from the public were investlgated by officers belonging to the same police unit as the alleged offenders.
Asked if it was a perception or reality that there was one rule for police and one rule for others, Mr Moynihan said, "I think it's probably both". He said it was worth serious consideration to limit the time any police commissioner could serve. Commissioner Bob Atkinson has been in power for a decade. Many senior government positions have fixed terms. Asked whether Mr Atkinson was doing a good job, Mr Moynihan said, “I think he’s doing OK. I mean, he’s doing his job".
Mr Moynihan singled out “heroic”- young police who spoke out about the bad apples in the service. Constable Bree Sonter blew the whistle on then-Senior Constable Benjamin Price, 32, who shoved a hose down the throat of Timothy Steele, 24, at Airlie Beach ln 2008. Price is no longer in the service. Mr Moynihan said more police would come forward if they felt they would be supported by the system.
(Police Union president) Ian Leavers is always saying to me that honest police get tarred with the same brush so I keep saying to him if that's their concern if they step up when they see what's going on then they can contribute to that not happening, Mr Moynihan said
The QPS has moved to fix some procedural weaknesses but sources say it is the high-profile cases that polarise the organisation. At the heart of that analysis is the Palm Island saga sparked after Cameron Doomadgee, also known as Mulrunji, died in custody in 2004. The CMC took aim at four police who investigated Doomadgee's death and the two officers who conducted a review of the initial death in custody investigation. Last year when Mr Moynihan released the CMC's review of the matter he said the original investigatlon and review were seriously flawed. They were characterised by double standards and an unwillingness to publicly acknowledge failings on part of the police, he said.
Misconduct disciplinary action was recommended against the four original investigators and disciplinary action against the reviewers. Mr Atkinson appointed Deputy Commissioner Kathy Rynders to determine whether the six officers should face any disciplinary action. Recently, she found they should receive managerial guidance [only].
Before that decision was announced, The Sunday Mail asked why Mr Atkinson had appointed Ms Rynders, given the CMC had appealed against her findings in the past. The response, which is being put on the record for the first time, highlights the tension with the CMC and the frustration of Mr Atkinson - who ticked off on the statement. “If there were concems they (CMC) could have voiced them or assumed responsibility for the matter,” the statement said. “They have a range of formal avenues open to them if they are unhappy with the outcome of the disciplinary process.”
The CMC is now considering Ms Rynders’ findings and will announce its position in coming weeks.
Above article appeared in the Brisbane "Sunday Mail" on 20 Feb., 2011
Another thug Qld. cop abusing his police powers
A police officer who was demoted for misconduct after he injured his former police lover, when he handcuffed her during an off-duty argument, has lost an appeal.
Jane Moran, who was then a constable, ended up with a fracture to her right eye socket, facial bruises and abrasions and tenderness to her neck, arms and wrists.
In February last year, after a police disciplinary hearing found Mount Isa police prosecutor Mark McKenzie had inappropriately and forcibly detained Ms Moran, he was demoted from sergeant to senior constable for two years. He appealed against the decision.
Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal was told Sen. Constable McKenzie, a police officer for 18 years, would suffer a financial loss of almost $34,000, and it would take him six years to progress to the position of sergeant.
The incident involving Ms Moran occurred on March 1, 2008, at police accommodation in Mount Isa. The tribunal heard the couple argued and Sen. Constable McKenzie claimed he became concerned for his safety because there was a knife within reach of Ms Moran. He claimed he restrained Ms Moran, using reasonable force, to defend himself, the tribunal heard.
She denied any knowledge of the knife, but admitted she got into a fight with Sen. Constable McKenzie. The hearing found that Sen. Constable McKenzie grabbed Ms Moran by the wrist, forced her face down on the bed with his knees in her back and handcuffed her.
After calling for police “back-up", which did not eventuate, Sen. Constable McKenzie escorted Ms Moran to the door and removed her handcuffs. The tribunal found Sen. Constable McKenzie’s demoiion was appropriate.
Above article by Kay Dibben appeared in the Brisbane "Sunday Mail" on 20 Feb., 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
S. Aust. Police charged over private data leaks
Two serving police and a former officer have been arrested and charged in a corruption probe. The secret Anti-Corruption Branch operation also has resulted in the arrest of a commercial agent who was allegedly using confidential information obtained from police files to locate members of the public - in many cases to repossess their cars and recover debts.
The operation has been under way since last June, with several detectives seconded to ACB from Local Service Areas because of its scope.
Senior police have refused to comment on the operation but sources said the racket was the largest uncovered since three detectives were charged after they were caught selling information from police computers to high-profile private investigator Frank Carbone in 1995. "The extent of this activity has raised more than a few eyebrows internally," the source said. "While this group appears to have been fairly contained, its extent is still a concern in the current political climate."
It is understood while all of those involved in the alleged corrupt activity with the commercial agent have been detected, a number of "offshoot" investigations have begun as a result of evidence gathered from several sources during the operation and further arrests are possible.
Police moved against the alleged ringleader in the racket last July when Port Pirie police officer David Barry Hawkins was suspended from duty. He resigned from SAPOL in late October and on December 9 was arrested and charged with 79 corruption-related offences. He is facing 42 counts of abuse of public office and 37 counts of unlawful operation of restricted-access computer systems. The charges relate to his alleged illegal activities between February 1, 2008 and December 3, 2009.
Hawkins, 37, appeared in Adelaide Magistrates Court on Wednesday and was remanded to appear again in May.
On December 20, detectives arrested commercial agent Heath Lee Boyle. He has been charged with 44 counts of aid and abet abuse of public office. He appeared in Adelaide Magistrates Court on January 28 and was remanded on continuing bail to appear again in May. Court documents state Boyle, 33, "aided, abetted, counselled or procured David Barry Hawkins to commit an offence, namely abuse of public office" between February 1, 2008 and December 3, 2009.
Following those two arrests detectives continued investigations, which included intensive analysis of several computers seized during the operation, and on January 19 detectives arrested and charged a 39-year-old police officer from the northern suburbs. The traffic patrol officer faces one count of abuse of public office.
On January 25 detectives charged a 46-year-old police officer from the eastern suburbs with 44 counts of abuse of public office. The detective was on secondment to the Australian Federal Police but his contract has now been terminated.
Both officers have been suspended from duty and will appear in Adelaide Magistrates Court on March 2.
SOURCE
Rowe case shakes public trust in police
Bruce Rowe is one of those blokes authority hates. He has a simple sense of justice and when he digs in his heels he is immovable.
Rowe is the oldish fellow (65 at the time) who was seen on TV being manhandled by a bunch of cops in the heart of Brisbane's Queen Street Mall back in July 2006.
He was arrested, charged and convicted of obstructing police and failing to obey a police order after an incident that began in the public toilets and ended with him being held down by four officers and kneed by another.
Rowe was last seen on TV last week savouring a moment of triumph after Constable Benjamin Arndt was found guilty of assaulting him and fined $1000 and ordered to pay him $2250 court costs.
That was the result of a private prosecution by Rowe, not one launched by the established forces of law and order.
The case was one of the most unsavoury in Queensland's policing history and dragged through the Magistrates Court, the District Court, the Court of Appeal and back to the Magistrates Court.
The first court convicted Rowe, the second confirmed it, the third overturned it and the fourth fined Arndt, although it did not record a conviction. Even the supporting magistrate and judge made known their displeasure with what they saw on video tape.
Rowe was not caught up in some kind of public toilet degeneracy. Depressed and homeless after his wife of 41 years died, he went in there to change his clothes. There was some argy bargy with the cleaner, who wanted to close up for cleanings, and the police were called. The rest is history.
You might think that after the best part of five years, all involved would be happy to put it all behind them. But, no, the Police Union wants a rematch. Spokesman Ian Leavers said it would back an appeal against Arndt's conviction which had "dire consequences for all police officers doing their jobs".
"I am very, very concerned now that police officers across the state will be reluctant to do their job and the community will suffer," he said.
Any officers who think the right of assault is issued with their batons and handcuffs might be reluctant to do their jobs but I can't see what difference it will make to the majority who follow a tough calling with courage and dignity.
"It simply doesn't make sense at all because a District Court has found the force used was reasonable," he said.
Judge Nicholas Samios did find that but he also found the arrest was lawful. Whether he would have found it reasonable had he found the arrest unlawful is another thing.
In the Court of Appeal, Judge Cate Holmes noted that Rowe wanted to argue three grounds of appeal, including on the grounds that "the arrest was unlawful or, alternatively, because Mr Rowe's actions were a response to unlawful force used in effecting it".
It never came to that because the court found other reasons to rule the arrest was unlawful. In the circumstances, it might be a pity it was not resolved by the higher court. And whether the degree of force was reasonable and has much to do with the fact of assault is another matter.
Arndt is entitled to seek to clear his name and the Police Union is entitled (possibly obliged) to support him in his actions.
However, whatever the outcome, this was a shameful incident that should never have happened. It was badly handled during and after the event and has dragged on too long, to the detriment of just about anyone involved and at a cost to trust in our police service.
The courts will do their job, but I think public opinion has reached a verdict.
SOURCE
Two serving police and a former officer have been arrested and charged in a corruption probe. The secret Anti-Corruption Branch operation also has resulted in the arrest of a commercial agent who was allegedly using confidential information obtained from police files to locate members of the public - in many cases to repossess their cars and recover debts.
The operation has been under way since last June, with several detectives seconded to ACB from Local Service Areas because of its scope.
Senior police have refused to comment on the operation but sources said the racket was the largest uncovered since three detectives were charged after they were caught selling information from police computers to high-profile private investigator Frank Carbone in 1995. "The extent of this activity has raised more than a few eyebrows internally," the source said. "While this group appears to have been fairly contained, its extent is still a concern in the current political climate."
It is understood while all of those involved in the alleged corrupt activity with the commercial agent have been detected, a number of "offshoot" investigations have begun as a result of evidence gathered from several sources during the operation and further arrests are possible.
Police moved against the alleged ringleader in the racket last July when Port Pirie police officer David Barry Hawkins was suspended from duty. He resigned from SAPOL in late October and on December 9 was arrested and charged with 79 corruption-related offences. He is facing 42 counts of abuse of public office and 37 counts of unlawful operation of restricted-access computer systems. The charges relate to his alleged illegal activities between February 1, 2008 and December 3, 2009.
Hawkins, 37, appeared in Adelaide Magistrates Court on Wednesday and was remanded to appear again in May.
On December 20, detectives arrested commercial agent Heath Lee Boyle. He has been charged with 44 counts of aid and abet abuse of public office. He appeared in Adelaide Magistrates Court on January 28 and was remanded on continuing bail to appear again in May. Court documents state Boyle, 33, "aided, abetted, counselled or procured David Barry Hawkins to commit an offence, namely abuse of public office" between February 1, 2008 and December 3, 2009.
Following those two arrests detectives continued investigations, which included intensive analysis of several computers seized during the operation, and on January 19 detectives arrested and charged a 39-year-old police officer from the northern suburbs. The traffic patrol officer faces one count of abuse of public office.
On January 25 detectives charged a 46-year-old police officer from the eastern suburbs with 44 counts of abuse of public office. The detective was on secondment to the Australian Federal Police but his contract has now been terminated.
Both officers have been suspended from duty and will appear in Adelaide Magistrates Court on March 2.
SOURCE
Rowe case shakes public trust in police
Bruce Rowe is one of those blokes authority hates. He has a simple sense of justice and when he digs in his heels he is immovable.
Rowe is the oldish fellow (65 at the time) who was seen on TV being manhandled by a bunch of cops in the heart of Brisbane's Queen Street Mall back in July 2006.
He was arrested, charged and convicted of obstructing police and failing to obey a police order after an incident that began in the public toilets and ended with him being held down by four officers and kneed by another.
Rowe was last seen on TV last week savouring a moment of triumph after Constable Benjamin Arndt was found guilty of assaulting him and fined $1000 and ordered to pay him $2250 court costs.
That was the result of a private prosecution by Rowe, not one launched by the established forces of law and order.
The case was one of the most unsavoury in Queensland's policing history and dragged through the Magistrates Court, the District Court, the Court of Appeal and back to the Magistrates Court.
The first court convicted Rowe, the second confirmed it, the third overturned it and the fourth fined Arndt, although it did not record a conviction. Even the supporting magistrate and judge made known their displeasure with what they saw on video tape.
Rowe was not caught up in some kind of public toilet degeneracy. Depressed and homeless after his wife of 41 years died, he went in there to change his clothes. There was some argy bargy with the cleaner, who wanted to close up for cleanings, and the police were called. The rest is history.
You might think that after the best part of five years, all involved would be happy to put it all behind them. But, no, the Police Union wants a rematch. Spokesman Ian Leavers said it would back an appeal against Arndt's conviction which had "dire consequences for all police officers doing their jobs".
"I am very, very concerned now that police officers across the state will be reluctant to do their job and the community will suffer," he said.
Any officers who think the right of assault is issued with their batons and handcuffs might be reluctant to do their jobs but I can't see what difference it will make to the majority who follow a tough calling with courage and dignity.
"It simply doesn't make sense at all because a District Court has found the force used was reasonable," he said.
Judge Nicholas Samios did find that but he also found the arrest was lawful. Whether he would have found it reasonable had he found the arrest unlawful is another thing.
In the Court of Appeal, Judge Cate Holmes noted that Rowe wanted to argue three grounds of appeal, including on the grounds that "the arrest was unlawful or, alternatively, because Mr Rowe's actions were a response to unlawful force used in effecting it".
It never came to that because the court found other reasons to rule the arrest was unlawful. In the circumstances, it might be a pity it was not resolved by the higher court. And whether the degree of force was reasonable and has much to do with the fact of assault is another matter.
Arndt is entitled to seek to clear his name and the Police Union is entitled (possibly obliged) to support him in his actions.
However, whatever the outcome, this was a shameful incident that should never have happened. It was badly handled during and after the event and has dragged on too long, to the detriment of just about anyone involved and at a cost to trust in our police service.
The courts will do their job, but I think public opinion has reached a verdict.
SOURCE
Saturday, February 12, 2011
A protection racket run by NSW law enforcement
Is anyone surprised?
The state's most secretive law enforcement agency has been sharing the proceeds of crime with organised crime figures, cutting deals that allow them to walk away with millions of dollars.
The NSW Crime Commission, set up to investigate and jail Sydney's crime lords, has struck as many as 600 such deals during the past 20 years, in effect, handing over millions of dollars' worth of assets that might have been illegally obtained.
The funds taken by the commission are put in a Treasury account and disbursed to crime prevention and drug rehabilitation programs.
But instead of litigating in open court to confiscate all proceeds of crime, the agency has settled most cases by consent for a lesser amount and often before a defendant appears on a criminal charge.
For senior figures in the underworld, it has become a cost of doing business. The Herald has confirmed that in one recent case, someone with criminal associations approached the commission to pay a financial settlement - before he was even called in to give evidence.
The Herald has also learnt that such deals, struck under proceeds of crime laws, have not always been inspected by a Supreme Court judge as envisaged by the legislation but merely stamped by a court official.
A defence lawyer, Dennis Miralis, said there was a "prevailing view" within the criminal world that by reaching a secret deal with the commission, it was possible to avoid further police scrutiny. "They believe that by settling with the crime commission on a non-admission basis, they will remove the commission from investigating their affairs any further," he said.
"One advantage of settlement is that individuals can effectively have funds returned to them that are now 'clean' and have been sponsored and endorsed as such by the state."
While the value of the assets the agency confiscates has grown by more than 1300 per cent since 1990 - generating almost $250 million over that period - the number of people it has arrested has plateaued, falling last year to fewer than the number in 1993.
A former commission investigator and now police academic, Michael Kennedy, said: "It is philosophically unsound what they do. They are licensing organised crime because they are fining it. The Crime Commission is involved in business transactions."
The agency - which taps phones, can compel witnesses to answer questions and maintains an army of criminal informants - has operated for two decades with less oversight than even the domestic spy agency, the Australian Secret Intelligence Organisation. The Herald also understands several prominent organised criminals have been able to avoid greater police scrutiny, a bigger confiscation bill or more severe legal penalties by becoming an informant. A 12-month investigation has discovered:
An "ends justify the means" culture exists at senior levels. It manifests itself in inadequate record keeping, the routine relaxation of policies governing the handling of informants and inaccurately reporting its financial achievements.
A murder investigation into a prominent Lebanese mafia figure was thrown into disarray, NSW police say, after the commission warned his lawyer that one of the criminal's most-trusted friends had rolled over.
An entrenched distrust of the agency among senior members of the Australian Crime Commission, the federal police and the NSW Police, over disputes about the management of complex investigations.
Since 1993, the commission has been run by Phillip Bradley, who is respected in government circles as a hard-working anti-crime crusader. And despite its problems, his organisation is one of Australia's most effective criminal intelligence agencies.
Its supporters say confiscating criminal proceeds is the only way to put pressure on well-organised criminals with experience of police methods - and the Supreme Court has encouraged such settlements because of the heavy caseload in the courts.
But critics say such deals do not make a dent in the amount of drugs sold in Sydney and, as they are struck in private, do little to deter crime.
The commission's oversight body, a management committee that consists of Mr Bradley, the police minister and the heads of NSW Police and the federal police, has not always been able to scrutinise properly the organisation or the financial settlements it has struck.
Another former commission officer, Peter Robinson, said it was compromised because it was trying to juggle competing priorities - the confiscation of assets and the investigation of organised crime.
"The concept of taxing organised crime, or skimming off the top, and leaving crime figures to keep the rest of their spoils sounds like a protection racket. If the commission is doing that, it is encouraging crime and fostering a culture where organised crime can flourish."
SOURCE
Is anyone surprised?
The state's most secretive law enforcement agency has been sharing the proceeds of crime with organised crime figures, cutting deals that allow them to walk away with millions of dollars.
The NSW Crime Commission, set up to investigate and jail Sydney's crime lords, has struck as many as 600 such deals during the past 20 years, in effect, handing over millions of dollars' worth of assets that might have been illegally obtained.
The funds taken by the commission are put in a Treasury account and disbursed to crime prevention and drug rehabilitation programs.
But instead of litigating in open court to confiscate all proceeds of crime, the agency has settled most cases by consent for a lesser amount and often before a defendant appears on a criminal charge.
For senior figures in the underworld, it has become a cost of doing business. The Herald has confirmed that in one recent case, someone with criminal associations approached the commission to pay a financial settlement - before he was even called in to give evidence.
The Herald has also learnt that such deals, struck under proceeds of crime laws, have not always been inspected by a Supreme Court judge as envisaged by the legislation but merely stamped by a court official.
A defence lawyer, Dennis Miralis, said there was a "prevailing view" within the criminal world that by reaching a secret deal with the commission, it was possible to avoid further police scrutiny. "They believe that by settling with the crime commission on a non-admission basis, they will remove the commission from investigating their affairs any further," he said.
"One advantage of settlement is that individuals can effectively have funds returned to them that are now 'clean' and have been sponsored and endorsed as such by the state."
While the value of the assets the agency confiscates has grown by more than 1300 per cent since 1990 - generating almost $250 million over that period - the number of people it has arrested has plateaued, falling last year to fewer than the number in 1993.
A former commission investigator and now police academic, Michael Kennedy, said: "It is philosophically unsound what they do. They are licensing organised crime because they are fining it. The Crime Commission is involved in business transactions."
The agency - which taps phones, can compel witnesses to answer questions and maintains an army of criminal informants - has operated for two decades with less oversight than even the domestic spy agency, the Australian Secret Intelligence Organisation. The Herald also understands several prominent organised criminals have been able to avoid greater police scrutiny, a bigger confiscation bill or more severe legal penalties by becoming an informant. A 12-month investigation has discovered:
An "ends justify the means" culture exists at senior levels. It manifests itself in inadequate record keeping, the routine relaxation of policies governing the handling of informants and inaccurately reporting its financial achievements.
A murder investigation into a prominent Lebanese mafia figure was thrown into disarray, NSW police say, after the commission warned his lawyer that one of the criminal's most-trusted friends had rolled over.
An entrenched distrust of the agency among senior members of the Australian Crime Commission, the federal police and the NSW Police, over disputes about the management of complex investigations.
Since 1993, the commission has been run by Phillip Bradley, who is respected in government circles as a hard-working anti-crime crusader. And despite its problems, his organisation is one of Australia's most effective criminal intelligence agencies.
Its supporters say confiscating criminal proceeds is the only way to put pressure on well-organised criminals with experience of police methods - and the Supreme Court has encouraged such settlements because of the heavy caseload in the courts.
But critics say such deals do not make a dent in the amount of drugs sold in Sydney and, as they are struck in private, do little to deter crime.
The commission's oversight body, a management committee that consists of Mr Bradley, the police minister and the heads of NSW Police and the federal police, has not always been able to scrutinise properly the organisation or the financial settlements it has struck.
Another former commission officer, Peter Robinson, said it was compromised because it was trying to juggle competing priorities - the confiscation of assets and the investigation of organised crime.
"The concept of taxing organised crime, or skimming off the top, and leaving crime figures to keep the rest of their spoils sounds like a protection racket. If the commission is doing that, it is encouraging crime and fostering a culture where organised crime can flourish."
SOURCE
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Victoria's finest, again
Victoria's police force 'exposed children to risk' from sex offenders, report finds. Why is child protection such a joke in so many jurisdictions?
FAILURE by Victoria Police to pass on information about registered sex offenders has left more than 700 children exposed to "unacceptable risk", the state's ombudsman has found.
In a damning report delivered to Victoria's parliament today, Ombudsman George Brouwer has slammed the police's “inadequate commitment” to the sex offenders register as part of a systemic breakdown in how the state manages known sex offenders.
Between October 2004, when the sex offenders register began, until March 2010, 899 registered sex offenders reported to Victoria Police that they had contact with at least one child. But as The Australian revealed in August, information regarding 376 of those offenders was never passed on by police to the Department of Human Services. Those 376 offenders have reported contact with over 700 children.
“The exact number of children with whom these offenders may have had contact is difficult to ascertain,” Mr Brouwer wrote in his report. “In some instances, offenders were found to have been in contact with a greater number of children than he or she had initially disclosed to Victoria Police. “As investigations conclude, it is likely that this number will increase.”
Mr Brouwer found the police failure to report the information to the department “has left children exposed to unacceptable risk”.
He also attacked Corrections Victoria for seeking permission from the registered sex offenders before releasing information about them, saying the agency “opted to place the rights of registered sex offenders over the rights of vulnerable children that may be at risk of harm”.
SOURCE
Victoria's police force 'exposed children to risk' from sex offenders, report finds. Why is child protection such a joke in so many jurisdictions?
FAILURE by Victoria Police to pass on information about registered sex offenders has left more than 700 children exposed to "unacceptable risk", the state's ombudsman has found.
In a damning report delivered to Victoria's parliament today, Ombudsman George Brouwer has slammed the police's “inadequate commitment” to the sex offenders register as part of a systemic breakdown in how the state manages known sex offenders.
Between October 2004, when the sex offenders register began, until March 2010, 899 registered sex offenders reported to Victoria Police that they had contact with at least one child. But as The Australian revealed in August, information regarding 376 of those offenders was never passed on by police to the Department of Human Services. Those 376 offenders have reported contact with over 700 children.
“The exact number of children with whom these offenders may have had contact is difficult to ascertain,” Mr Brouwer wrote in his report. “In some instances, offenders were found to have been in contact with a greater number of children than he or she had initially disclosed to Victoria Police. “As investigations conclude, it is likely that this number will increase.”
Mr Brouwer found the police failure to report the information to the department “has left children exposed to unacceptable risk”.
He also attacked Corrections Victoria for seeking permission from the registered sex offenders before releasing information about them, saying the agency “opted to place the rights of registered sex offenders over the rights of vulnerable children that may be at risk of harm”.
SOURCE
Monday, January 31, 2011
Australia's crooked Federal cops again
Officers from the Australian Federal Police allegedly stole and concealed documents that could have helped a former pilot and businessman fight allegations he had raped a 14-year-old girl in PNG.
Fred Martens, a millionaire working in Papua New Guinea, served more than 2½ years in prison after being convicted under Australian child sex tourism laws. But after his family found some of the missing documents he earned a rare second appeal in November 2009 and had his conviction quashed.
In two multimillion-dollar compensation claims Mr Martens, 62, is now suing the Australian and PNG governments, and members of the AFP and PNG police, over their alleged misconduct. The claims allege his false prosecution led to the failure of his businesses and the loss of PNG assets - including 11 boats, six planes and dozens of construction and earth-moving vehicles.
This is the latest in a series of embarrassing cases involving the AFP, which last month settled a claim with the Indian doctor Mohamed Haneef. Former Guantanamo detainee Mamdouh Habib has also received compensation from the federal government, while actor Paul Hogan is considering suing the government over its failed prosecution of him on tax matters.
Mr Martens accuses an AFP agent of perjury, trying to cover up problems with the investigation, perverting the course of justice and malicious prosecution. The officer had tried to "amass evidence to bolster a case against [Mr Martens] regardless of its truth or falsity", "deliberately ignored obvious inconsistencies" in the girl's statements, and agreed with PNG officers to conceal various documents, the damages claim says.
The girl, who cannot be named, said Mr Martens had twice - in March and mid-September 2001 - flown her from her home in Western Province to the capital, Port Moresby, where she applied for a passport and visa to attend school in Australia. She said during the second trip she stayed at his home, where she was assaulted. But Mr Martens insisted he had only flown her to Port Moresby once, in August 2001, and that they had stayed in separate rooms at the home of his friend. He also denies he ever assaulted her.
Soon after his arrest in August 2004 he had asked investigating AFP agents to obtain various records and documents about his flights and her passport application, which he said would prove the girl's statement was wrong.
But many of these documents, which could prove the flight was in August, were never produced at his trial. He was convicted and lost an appeal, but was later granted a second review.
The missing records that formed the centre of the case, and compensation claim, are:
The girl's certified passport application.
Plane refuelling records.
Civil aviation flight invoices.
Australian immigration records of his movements.
The AFP officer stated in an affidavit that the girl's passport application could not be produced because it had been stolen from the PNG immigration office. But a PNG police officer later swore two AFP officers had removed the application, months before Mr Martens was charged.
A statement from a doctor who certified the photos taken for the girl's passport application, confirming when she was in Port Moresby, was also never produced in court, according to his PNG compensation claim.
PNG police said they had inquired about refuelling records, but they approached the wrong fuel company in the wrong town and no records were provided, the compensation claim alleges.
The AFP officer swore PNG's Civil Aviation Authority had advised it had not kept records of the flight. But Mr Martens's partner later obtained records of the plane's take-offs, movements and landings over the counter from the authority.
In the appeal judgment, the court found it reflected poorly on the AFP that it had failed to find the flight records. "Had [they] been put into evidence at the trial it would not have been open to the jury to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt the petitioner was guilty."
The AFP officer also said that Australian immigration files showed Mr Martens was in PNG at the time of both alleged flights, attaching a typed version of Australian records. But Mr Martens later obtained the full records under Australian freedom-of-information laws showing he was in Australia at the time of the alleged first flight and near the Indonesian border at the time of the alleged rape in September.
The Australian damages claim also says a complaint by his family to the AFP's standards and ethics unit was investigated by one of the agents who had been seconded to PNG for the original investigation. The complaint was dismissed.
In a brief response to the Australian claim, the Australian government and one AFP agent argue his claim was "irregular", had been laid under the wrong law and in the wrong court. An application to have the claim thrown out of court is to be heard in Cairns in mid-February.
SOURCE
Officers from the Australian Federal Police allegedly stole and concealed documents that could have helped a former pilot and businessman fight allegations he had raped a 14-year-old girl in PNG.
Fred Martens, a millionaire working in Papua New Guinea, served more than 2½ years in prison after being convicted under Australian child sex tourism laws. But after his family found some of the missing documents he earned a rare second appeal in November 2009 and had his conviction quashed.
In two multimillion-dollar compensation claims Mr Martens, 62, is now suing the Australian and PNG governments, and members of the AFP and PNG police, over their alleged misconduct. The claims allege his false prosecution led to the failure of his businesses and the loss of PNG assets - including 11 boats, six planes and dozens of construction and earth-moving vehicles.
This is the latest in a series of embarrassing cases involving the AFP, which last month settled a claim with the Indian doctor Mohamed Haneef. Former Guantanamo detainee Mamdouh Habib has also received compensation from the federal government, while actor Paul Hogan is considering suing the government over its failed prosecution of him on tax matters.
Mr Martens accuses an AFP agent of perjury, trying to cover up problems with the investigation, perverting the course of justice and malicious prosecution. The officer had tried to "amass evidence to bolster a case against [Mr Martens] regardless of its truth or falsity", "deliberately ignored obvious inconsistencies" in the girl's statements, and agreed with PNG officers to conceal various documents, the damages claim says.
The girl, who cannot be named, said Mr Martens had twice - in March and mid-September 2001 - flown her from her home in Western Province to the capital, Port Moresby, where she applied for a passport and visa to attend school in Australia. She said during the second trip she stayed at his home, where she was assaulted. But Mr Martens insisted he had only flown her to Port Moresby once, in August 2001, and that they had stayed in separate rooms at the home of his friend. He also denies he ever assaulted her.
Soon after his arrest in August 2004 he had asked investigating AFP agents to obtain various records and documents about his flights and her passport application, which he said would prove the girl's statement was wrong.
But many of these documents, which could prove the flight was in August, were never produced at his trial. He was convicted and lost an appeal, but was later granted a second review.
The missing records that formed the centre of the case, and compensation claim, are:
The girl's certified passport application.
Plane refuelling records.
Civil aviation flight invoices.
Australian immigration records of his movements.
The AFP officer stated in an affidavit that the girl's passport application could not be produced because it had been stolen from the PNG immigration office. But a PNG police officer later swore two AFP officers had removed the application, months before Mr Martens was charged.
A statement from a doctor who certified the photos taken for the girl's passport application, confirming when she was in Port Moresby, was also never produced in court, according to his PNG compensation claim.
PNG police said they had inquired about refuelling records, but they approached the wrong fuel company in the wrong town and no records were provided, the compensation claim alleges.
The AFP officer swore PNG's Civil Aviation Authority had advised it had not kept records of the flight. But Mr Martens's partner later obtained records of the plane's take-offs, movements and landings over the counter from the authority.
In the appeal judgment, the court found it reflected poorly on the AFP that it had failed to find the flight records. "Had [they] been put into evidence at the trial it would not have been open to the jury to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt the petitioner was guilty."
The AFP officer also said that Australian immigration files showed Mr Martens was in PNG at the time of both alleged flights, attaching a typed version of Australian records. But Mr Martens later obtained the full records under Australian freedom-of-information laws showing he was in Australia at the time of the alleged first flight and near the Indonesian border at the time of the alleged rape in September.
The Australian damages claim also says a complaint by his family to the AFP's standards and ethics unit was investigated by one of the agents who had been seconded to PNG for the original investigation. The complaint was dismissed.
In a brief response to the Australian claim, the Australian government and one AFP agent argue his claim was "irregular", had been laid under the wrong law and in the wrong court. An application to have the claim thrown out of court is to be heard in Cairns in mid-February.
SOURCE
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
A crooked "Middle Eastern" cop in NSW
Probably a Lebanese Muslim
AS A senior police officer, George Kahila was supposed to uphold and enforce the law.
But the well-respected detective sergeant also ran a side business in mortgage brokering which involved falsifying tax returns and payslips to get home loans for clients who would otherwise be refused.
Kahila, 39, secured more than $3 million over three years from lenders including the ANZ bank, Homeside Lending and Macquarie Mortgages, plus $690,000 for himself and his wife, by applying for "low doc" loans.
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One client was an undischarged bankrupt and Kahila put the loan in the client's sister's name to hide assets from creditors and the bankruptcy trustee.
Following a covert investigation by the fraud squad, Kahila found himself in further trouble when he lied about his actions at a Police Integrity Commission hearing in July 2007.
Last year he formally pleaded guilty to 14 offences committed between June 2003 and July 2006. The court heard he told prosecutors that low doc loans were "virtually an invitation" for false or embellished applications and were the "norm" in the industry at the time.
Each of the applicants would not have met the lenders' requirements for a loan because of their income or credit history, but he felt they could meet the repayments.
In the District Court last week, Judge Michael King said as Kahila had been a police officer for 12 years before the first offence, "he must have had a clear understanding of the criminal law and known that he was committing criminal offences".
Kahila had risen to the rank of detective sergeant at Parramatta local area command and had worked in the Middle Eastern organised crime squad. He had been awarded a Commissioner's Certificate of Merit and was well-respected within the force until he resigned in July 2006.
Kahila said an incident in 2000, where he was stabbed in the stomach with a screwdriver while attempting to arrest a thief, had resulted in mental-health and alcohol problems. He began arranging mortgages a year later in an attempt to leave the force.
He was sentenced to 14 months in jail but will serve an intensive correction order, including drug and alcohol testing.
SOURCE
Probably a Lebanese Muslim
AS A senior police officer, George Kahila was supposed to uphold and enforce the law.
But the well-respected detective sergeant also ran a side business in mortgage brokering which involved falsifying tax returns and payslips to get home loans for clients who would otherwise be refused.
Kahila, 39, secured more than $3 million over three years from lenders including the ANZ bank, Homeside Lending and Macquarie Mortgages, plus $690,000 for himself and his wife, by applying for "low doc" loans.
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One client was an undischarged bankrupt and Kahila put the loan in the client's sister's name to hide assets from creditors and the bankruptcy trustee.
Following a covert investigation by the fraud squad, Kahila found himself in further trouble when he lied about his actions at a Police Integrity Commission hearing in July 2007.
Last year he formally pleaded guilty to 14 offences committed between June 2003 and July 2006. The court heard he told prosecutors that low doc loans were "virtually an invitation" for false or embellished applications and were the "norm" in the industry at the time.
Each of the applicants would not have met the lenders' requirements for a loan because of their income or credit history, but he felt they could meet the repayments.
In the District Court last week, Judge Michael King said as Kahila had been a police officer for 12 years before the first offence, "he must have had a clear understanding of the criminal law and known that he was committing criminal offences".
Kahila had risen to the rank of detective sergeant at Parramatta local area command and had worked in the Middle Eastern organised crime squad. He had been awarded a Commissioner's Certificate of Merit and was well-respected within the force until he resigned in July 2006.
Kahila said an incident in 2000, where he was stabbed in the stomach with a screwdriver while attempting to arrest a thief, had resulted in mental-health and alcohol problems. He began arranging mortgages a year later in an attempt to leave the force.
He was sentenced to 14 months in jail but will serve an intensive correction order, including drug and alcohol testing.
SOURCE
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Cross-dressing policeman Peter Karras caught out by officers
The Green Valley cops are a choice lot. Read this
A CROSS-dressing police officer was caught alone in his car in a black ladies G-string, bra and six-inch high heels while committing an "offensive act", a court heard yesterday.
With his uniform on the back seat, off-duty constable Peter Karras, 51, of Green Valley, thought a dark and secluded Punchbowl street, in western Sydney, was the perfect place to put on women's clothing and touch himself. But two officers patrolling the area spotted Karras about 10.40pm.
Documents tendered to Burwood Local Court yesterday revealed Karras was wearing a black ladies G-string that exposed his penis, as well as a black bra, several gold necklaces and matching bracelets and six-inch high heels.
The officers also found his police uniform and police-issued gun belt on the back seat of his car, the court heard.
Karras was charged with behaving in an offensive manner in a public place and pleaded guilty in Burwood Local Court yesterday.
He was convicted and fined $500 plus court costs. A police spokesman said Karras had served as a constable for six years.
SOURCE
NSW police tardiness meant bashing accused granted bail
A MAN accused of bashing another over the head with a sandwich press, leaving him unconscious, with possible brain injury and needing to be revived, has been granted bail because police took too long to lay charges.
Django O'Hara was serving a 15-year prison term for murder when he allegedly attacked former kickboxer Adam Watt, who was on remand on drugs charges in Silverwater jail, on October 1, 2009. The attack was captured on CCTV but Mr O'Hara was released at the end of his sentence in March 2010.
It was not until October 2010 that police issued a warrant for his arrest over the attack, and he was charged in November, when police were notified he had been admitted to hospital with five stab wounds.
The warrant states police believe he has connections with bikie groups, is the suspect in an unrelated crime in Kings Cross and had threatened to kill Mr Watt and his family members, but it appears this information was not presented during the bail application.
Mr O'Hara is charged with wounding causing grievous bodily harm with intent to murder Mr Watt.
Last Thursday, Magistrate Janet Wahlquist found there were exceptional circumstances why Mr O'Hara - a repeat offender facing a serious offence where there was a presumption against bail - should be granted bail. "The primary factor really is the delay in charging [him]," the Parramatta Local Court magistrate said.
She said Mr O'Hara had "made a life for himself" since leaving jail; was needed by his father, who was suffering a terminal illness; had committed no major offences since his release, and had restricted access to facilities to prepare his case in jail.
Mr O'Hara, who represented himself, told the court: "I was released six months [after the alleged attack] which allowed me to get on with my life after 15 years in custody."
A spokeswoman for the Director of Public Prosecutions and police said they were reviewing the decision to grant bail.
SOURCE
Magistrate dismisses charges against teens because investigating Queensland cop was too slack to check committal hearing date
Slackness one expects from the Qld. wallopers but failure to present the case SEVEN times??
A MAGISTRATE dismissed charges against two teenagers accused of being part of a rolling street brawl-home invasion after finding the investigating policeman was "too slack" to get witnesses to a committal hearing today. An angry magistrate Chris Callaghan refused a police application to adjourn the committal hearing and discharged the two teenagers.
The teenagers, who are now 18 but were juveniles at the time, were allegedly involved in a street fight at Cleveland, in the bayside region, in November 2009. The fight later spilled over to a nearby house where up to eight teenage boys were involved.
In the Magistrates Court in Brisbane, the pair were to face a two-day committal hearing from today in which nine witnesses were listed to appear. However, Mr Callaghan was asked to adjourn the hearing because none of the witnesses were at court.
He refused the application and said it appeared the investigating officer had been too slack to check his computer and see the committal hearing was listed for today. Mr Callaghan said the matter had been adjourned on seven previous occasions and today's committal hearing had been set down three months ago.
He said the teenagers were charged in March last year and in the interests of justice they were entitled to have the evidence against them heard in a timely fashion. Likewise, it was the victims right to be able to give their evidence in a timely way.
Mr Callaghan refused the application and ordered the committal proceed. Police then offered no evidence and Judge Callaghan struck out the charges and discharged the teenagers.
He also ordered that his reasons be recorded and provided if the teenagers were recharged and a stay proceeding was brought by their lawyers.
SOURCE
The Green Valley cops are a choice lot. Read this
A CROSS-dressing police officer was caught alone in his car in a black ladies G-string, bra and six-inch high heels while committing an "offensive act", a court heard yesterday.
With his uniform on the back seat, off-duty constable Peter Karras, 51, of Green Valley, thought a dark and secluded Punchbowl street, in western Sydney, was the perfect place to put on women's clothing and touch himself. But two officers patrolling the area spotted Karras about 10.40pm.
Documents tendered to Burwood Local Court yesterday revealed Karras was wearing a black ladies G-string that exposed his penis, as well as a black bra, several gold necklaces and matching bracelets and six-inch high heels.
The officers also found his police uniform and police-issued gun belt on the back seat of his car, the court heard.
Karras was charged with behaving in an offensive manner in a public place and pleaded guilty in Burwood Local Court yesterday.
He was convicted and fined $500 plus court costs. A police spokesman said Karras had served as a constable for six years.
SOURCE
NSW police tardiness meant bashing accused granted bail
A MAN accused of bashing another over the head with a sandwich press, leaving him unconscious, with possible brain injury and needing to be revived, has been granted bail because police took too long to lay charges.
Django O'Hara was serving a 15-year prison term for murder when he allegedly attacked former kickboxer Adam Watt, who was on remand on drugs charges in Silverwater jail, on October 1, 2009. The attack was captured on CCTV but Mr O'Hara was released at the end of his sentence in March 2010.
It was not until October 2010 that police issued a warrant for his arrest over the attack, and he was charged in November, when police were notified he had been admitted to hospital with five stab wounds.
The warrant states police believe he has connections with bikie groups, is the suspect in an unrelated crime in Kings Cross and had threatened to kill Mr Watt and his family members, but it appears this information was not presented during the bail application.
Mr O'Hara is charged with wounding causing grievous bodily harm with intent to murder Mr Watt.
Last Thursday, Magistrate Janet Wahlquist found there were exceptional circumstances why Mr O'Hara - a repeat offender facing a serious offence where there was a presumption against bail - should be granted bail. "The primary factor really is the delay in charging [him]," the Parramatta Local Court magistrate said.
She said Mr O'Hara had "made a life for himself" since leaving jail; was needed by his father, who was suffering a terminal illness; had committed no major offences since his release, and had restricted access to facilities to prepare his case in jail.
Mr O'Hara, who represented himself, told the court: "I was released six months [after the alleged attack] which allowed me to get on with my life after 15 years in custody."
A spokeswoman for the Director of Public Prosecutions and police said they were reviewing the decision to grant bail.
SOURCE
Magistrate dismisses charges against teens because investigating Queensland cop was too slack to check committal hearing date
Slackness one expects from the Qld. wallopers but failure to present the case SEVEN times??
A MAGISTRATE dismissed charges against two teenagers accused of being part of a rolling street brawl-home invasion after finding the investigating policeman was "too slack" to get witnesses to a committal hearing today. An angry magistrate Chris Callaghan refused a police application to adjourn the committal hearing and discharged the two teenagers.
The teenagers, who are now 18 but were juveniles at the time, were allegedly involved in a street fight at Cleveland, in the bayside region, in November 2009. The fight later spilled over to a nearby house where up to eight teenage boys were involved.
In the Magistrates Court in Brisbane, the pair were to face a two-day committal hearing from today in which nine witnesses were listed to appear. However, Mr Callaghan was asked to adjourn the hearing because none of the witnesses were at court.
He refused the application and said it appeared the investigating officer had been too slack to check his computer and see the committal hearing was listed for today. Mr Callaghan said the matter had been adjourned on seven previous occasions and today's committal hearing had been set down three months ago.
He said the teenagers were charged in March last year and in the interests of justice they were entitled to have the evidence against them heard in a timely fashion. Likewise, it was the victims right to be able to give their evidence in a timely way.
Mr Callaghan refused the application and ordered the committal proceed. Police then offered no evidence and Judge Callaghan struck out the charges and discharged the teenagers.
He also ordered that his reasons be recorded and provided if the teenagers were recharged and a stay proceeding was brought by their lawyers.
SOURCE
Friday, January 14, 2011
A crooked West Australian cop
A FORMER police officer has been charged with corruption and unlawfully accessing a police computer after allegedly passing information to people targeted by police.
The charges, by the police Internal Affairs Unit, arise from an incident in January 2010 when the officer was attached to the State Intelligence Division.
It will be alleged that the man communicated information obtained by him to persons associated with the target of a police operation. It will be further alleged that between May 2009 and January 2010, the accused accessed the details of people from the police computer and was not authorised to do so. The accesses are not alleged to be connected to the corruption offence and people associated with that operation.
The officer, who served on the force for six years, subsequently resigned in September 2010 after the Minister had approved the recommendation by the Commissioner of Police to remove him from the WA Police.
He will appear before the Perth Magistrate’s Court today.
SOURCE
A FORMER police officer has been charged with corruption and unlawfully accessing a police computer after allegedly passing information to people targeted by police.
The charges, by the police Internal Affairs Unit, arise from an incident in January 2010 when the officer was attached to the State Intelligence Division.
It will be alleged that the man communicated information obtained by him to persons associated with the target of a police operation. It will be further alleged that between May 2009 and January 2010, the accused accessed the details of people from the police computer and was not authorised to do so. The accesses are not alleged to be connected to the corruption offence and people associated with that operation.
The officer, who served on the force for six years, subsequently resigned in September 2010 after the Minister had approved the recommendation by the Commissioner of Police to remove him from the WA Police.
He will appear before the Perth Magistrate’s Court today.
SOURCE
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
S. Aust.: Victim's mum forced to 'do job of police'
This sounds just like the Qld. wallopers. Doing any work is anathema to them. They just want to cruise around big-noting themselves. I have twice provided my local cops with ID of offenders with no result
THE mother of an assault victim says she has been forced to do the work of police. She directed witnesses to provide statements and provided officers with a possible address for the suspects.
The victim, Richard, 17, stepped in to break up a fight outside a Redwood Park house on New Year's Eve, the mother says.
Three older men, described as being aged in their mid-to-late 30s and not invited to the party, watched the fight. Witnesses said they were carrying a baseball bat and nunchukkas. They also brought a rottweiler.
Richard said he helped one of the girls involved and that as he moved away, he was struck with the baseball bat by one of the men. It's also claimed that the rottweiler was set on other party-goers. The three men were later seen at a nearby address. Those details were handed to police, the mother said.
Richard was treated in hospital for facial injuries. He has undergone surgery and faces more treatment in coming months. Richard's mother said police had failed to contact a number of witnesses who had provided details.
She posted a page on her Facebook profile asking for witnesses and urging them to go to Holden Hill police station. "I feel like I am doing the job of police," she said. "I was angry, but also disillusioned about why it has taken so long and nothing had been done about it. "What about the (police getting) the baseball bat or any other evidence?"
Police yesterday said appropriate steps had been taken in the investigation and it was proceeding.
The victim made a statement at the Holden Hill police station on January 1 but no suspects were named at the time of reporting the incident, a police spokeswoman said.
Another assault, linked to the first one, was reported on January 3 and she said police would be interviewing witnesses late yesterday in relation to both assaults.
SOURCE
This sounds just like the Qld. wallopers. Doing any work is anathema to them. They just want to cruise around big-noting themselves. I have twice provided my local cops with ID of offenders with no result
THE mother of an assault victim says she has been forced to do the work of police. She directed witnesses to provide statements and provided officers with a possible address for the suspects.
The victim, Richard, 17, stepped in to break up a fight outside a Redwood Park house on New Year's Eve, the mother says.
Three older men, described as being aged in their mid-to-late 30s and not invited to the party, watched the fight. Witnesses said they were carrying a baseball bat and nunchukkas. They also brought a rottweiler.
Richard said he helped one of the girls involved and that as he moved away, he was struck with the baseball bat by one of the men. It's also claimed that the rottweiler was set on other party-goers. The three men were later seen at a nearby address. Those details were handed to police, the mother said.
Richard was treated in hospital for facial injuries. He has undergone surgery and faces more treatment in coming months. Richard's mother said police had failed to contact a number of witnesses who had provided details.
She posted a page on her Facebook profile asking for witnesses and urging them to go to Holden Hill police station. "I feel like I am doing the job of police," she said. "I was angry, but also disillusioned about why it has taken so long and nothing had been done about it. "What about the (police getting) the baseball bat or any other evidence?"
Police yesterday said appropriate steps had been taken in the investigation and it was proceeding.
The victim made a statement at the Holden Hill police station on January 1 but no suspects were named at the time of reporting the incident, a police spokeswoman said.
Another assault, linked to the first one, was reported on January 3 and she said police would be interviewing witnesses late yesterday in relation to both assaults.
SOURCE
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
W.A. police: Death of disabled man sparks custody concerns
THE death in custody of a one-armed Aboriginal man should be investigated by the state's corruption watchdog because police cannot be trusted to investigate themselves.
A deaths in custody watch group says the disabled 51-year-old should have received immediate medical attention due to his poor health.
The man, who can be identified only as Mr Phillips for cultural reasons, died in the Kalgoorlie watch house early Saturday morning. He had been arrested and detained in the Goldfields town on Friday night.
Police said officers checked on him at 3.35am on Saturday and found him to be unwell. Officers administered first aid and CPR, and called for an ambulance, but when medics arrived they determined the man was dead.
Deaths in Custody Watch Committee deputy chairman Marc Newhouse said it was understood Mr Phillips, who'd had an arm and toes amputated and had an alcohol-abuse problem, was arrested and detained for breaching a move-on order.
"He was of extremely poor health. He should have been assessed medically straight away and either placed in hospital or in a sobering-up shelter," Mr Newhouse said.
Questions needed to be asked whether Mr Phillips was under 24/7 observation, whether he was on medication and whether police just believed he needed to "sleep it off", he said.
A full investigation by the WA Police Internal Affairs Unit was under way, and a report would be prepared for the coroner, police said.
But Mr Newhouse said the state's Corruption and Crime Commission should investigate the death, not police. Mr Newhouse said there were a lot of unanswered questions about the death, and "the community, particularly the Aboriginal community, does not have confidence in the police investigating themselves".
The deaths in custody watch group had long advocated an independent body to investigate deaths in custody, Mr Newhouse said. "The police response to that is, 'we're the only ones qualified to do it,' which is rubbish."
Mr Newhouse said that in December, Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan had called for the state's Inspector of Custodial Services to investigate deaths in police custody. Mr O'Callaghan had also wanted medical personnel to be on 24-hour call to assess those in custody. "That's extremely relevant for this most recent death in Kalgoorlie," Mr Newhouse said.
Police Minister Rob Johnson said he would not comment on the death due to the police inquiry.
SOURCE
THE death in custody of a one-armed Aboriginal man should be investigated by the state's corruption watchdog because police cannot be trusted to investigate themselves.
A deaths in custody watch group says the disabled 51-year-old should have received immediate medical attention due to his poor health.
The man, who can be identified only as Mr Phillips for cultural reasons, died in the Kalgoorlie watch house early Saturday morning. He had been arrested and detained in the Goldfields town on Friday night.
Police said officers checked on him at 3.35am on Saturday and found him to be unwell. Officers administered first aid and CPR, and called for an ambulance, but when medics arrived they determined the man was dead.
Deaths in Custody Watch Committee deputy chairman Marc Newhouse said it was understood Mr Phillips, who'd had an arm and toes amputated and had an alcohol-abuse problem, was arrested and detained for breaching a move-on order.
"He was of extremely poor health. He should have been assessed medically straight away and either placed in hospital or in a sobering-up shelter," Mr Newhouse said.
Questions needed to be asked whether Mr Phillips was under 24/7 observation, whether he was on medication and whether police just believed he needed to "sleep it off", he said.
A full investigation by the WA Police Internal Affairs Unit was under way, and a report would be prepared for the coroner, police said.
But Mr Newhouse said the state's Corruption and Crime Commission should investigate the death, not police. Mr Newhouse said there were a lot of unanswered questions about the death, and "the community, particularly the Aboriginal community, does not have confidence in the police investigating themselves".
The deaths in custody watch group had long advocated an independent body to investigate deaths in custody, Mr Newhouse said. "The police response to that is, 'we're the only ones qualified to do it,' which is rubbish."
Mr Newhouse said that in December, Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan had called for the state's Inspector of Custodial Services to investigate deaths in police custody. Mr O'Callaghan had also wanted medical personnel to be on 24-hour call to assess those in custody. "That's extremely relevant for this most recent death in Kalgoorlie," Mr Newhouse said.
Police Minister Rob Johnson said he would not comment on the death due to the police inquiry.
SOURCE
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Slack police work leads to man's death
A manifestly inadequate police response to a serious complaint left the complainants with the feeling that they had to seek justice themselves
A grandmnother allegedly orchestrated the murder of her friend and neighbour because she believed he had molested her grandchildren. Police will allege that 10 days after Adrian Trevett was cleared of indecently assaulting two children, aged one and two, his 46-year-old friend Karen Dawson conspired to murder him.
Officers found Mr Trevett's body at Sandy Hill in the Girard State Forest on Saturday, two months after he was reported missing.
The 62-year-old avid cyclist, who was believed to have been strangled, was covered with sticks and bushes.
New England detectives flew to Brisbane last week to arrest Dawson. She was charged with murder and made a brief appearance at the Armidale Local Court, where bail was refused.
Police arrested five other people, including Dawson's son and father of the grandchildren, Matthew Aquilina, yesterday morning after raids at Casino and Grafton. Three men and two women were being interviewed by investigators last night.
Deborah Grant, 32, made a brief appearance at Lismore Bail Court yesterday charged with being an accessory after the fact and concealing a serious indictable offence. Aquilina, 25, was charged with murder and will appear today.
Police will allege that Dawson, who had befriended Mr Trevett, drove to Rangers Hut on the Gwydir Highway at Glen Innes to pick him up on October 29 about 8.30am. The day before, Mr Trevett had completed an 80km bike ride from Glen Innes to the top of the Gibraltar Range in northern NSW.
Mr Trevett was allegedly driven to bushland, 30km from Tenterfield, where he was killed.
On October 19, police received a complaint alleging Trevett, described as a loner, had molested Dawson's two infant grandchildren. Police will allege Dawson, her son and his 29-year-old friend believed Mr Trevett was a pedophile despite being told by police he had been cleared of indecently assaulting the children.
Mr Trevett was never interviewed by police about the alleged indecent assaults.
His brother Valentine described Mr Trevett as a "quiet man". The brothers grew up in Glen Innes and regularly spoke. "He never had a wife or any kids. He always kept to himself," he said. "He was a simple man. He loved his cycling and the seasonal work he did with his travelling fruit truck."
SOURCE
A manifestly inadequate police response to a serious complaint left the complainants with the feeling that they had to seek justice themselves
A grandmnother allegedly orchestrated the murder of her friend and neighbour because she believed he had molested her grandchildren. Police will allege that 10 days after Adrian Trevett was cleared of indecently assaulting two children, aged one and two, his 46-year-old friend Karen Dawson conspired to murder him.
Officers found Mr Trevett's body at Sandy Hill in the Girard State Forest on Saturday, two months after he was reported missing.
The 62-year-old avid cyclist, who was believed to have been strangled, was covered with sticks and bushes.
New England detectives flew to Brisbane last week to arrest Dawson. She was charged with murder and made a brief appearance at the Armidale Local Court, where bail was refused.
Police arrested five other people, including Dawson's son and father of the grandchildren, Matthew Aquilina, yesterday morning after raids at Casino and Grafton. Three men and two women were being interviewed by investigators last night.
Deborah Grant, 32, made a brief appearance at Lismore Bail Court yesterday charged with being an accessory after the fact and concealing a serious indictable offence. Aquilina, 25, was charged with murder and will appear today.
Police will allege that Dawson, who had befriended Mr Trevett, drove to Rangers Hut on the Gwydir Highway at Glen Innes to pick him up on October 29 about 8.30am. The day before, Mr Trevett had completed an 80km bike ride from Glen Innes to the top of the Gibraltar Range in northern NSW.
Mr Trevett was allegedly driven to bushland, 30km from Tenterfield, where he was killed.
On October 19, police received a complaint alleging Trevett, described as a loner, had molested Dawson's two infant grandchildren. Police will allege Dawson, her son and his 29-year-old friend believed Mr Trevett was a pedophile despite being told by police he had been cleared of indecently assaulting the children.
Mr Trevett was never interviewed by police about the alleged indecent assaults.
His brother Valentine described Mr Trevett as a "quiet man". The brothers grew up in Glen Innes and regularly spoke. "He never had a wife or any kids. He always kept to himself," he said. "He was a simple man. He loved his cycling and the seasonal work he did with his travelling fruit truck."
SOURCE
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Dangerous reliance on flawed computer databases
Dumb cops treat them as an oracle when they should be treated as being no more reliable than any other kind of evidence
We humans have a persistent fear that the machines we endow with artificial intelligence will one day turn against us. Of course, deep down we know such concerns are irrational. Life is much easier if we accept that even though it might have burnt the bread, the toaster is basically on our side and doing its best.
Our natural instincts dulled, we let our guard down. And so, if you truly fear technology, expect to be dismissed as a Luddite or worse. I know all this, and yet I truly fear technology. Specifically, I fear how we rely on it; how we outsource our duty of care to computers that in fact rely on us to do their work properly.
When police and other law enforcement agencies, which have the power to deprive us of our liberty, place absolute trust in imperfect systems, the resulting injustice can be terrible and very difficult to remedy.
The Herald recently reported that a long-running glitch in the NSW government computer system is causing young people to be arrested and detained for breaching non-existent or expired bail conditions. Often these people must wait until they are brought before a court before they are released.
For more than three years, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, the Public Interest Law Clearing House and Legal Aid NSW have been trying to resolve this. But still the cases have mounted up, leading to the repeated injustice of wrongful detention and a government compensation bill that runs into millions of dollars.
Even when a detained youth has tried to explain the true situation - in one case, his mother offered to fax to the police court documents containing the correct information - the authorities have doggedly relied on the police IT system. By presuming their technology to be infallible, these errors have caused a significant injustice.
An IT system relies on people to input the data. But from time to time, we fallible humans enter the information wrongly; sometimes it doesn't go in at all. While it's convenient to assume the computer is always right, that assumption should never prevail over clear evidence to the contrary.
There is also another, more subtle problem with IT systems. Their design constrains our actions - often more effectively than any law ever could. This principle does not just apply to IT, but to other forms of design as well. Take, for example, road safety. If the government wants to limit drivers' speed on a suburban road to 40km/h, the conventional method would be to impose a speed limit. If policed rigorously, this will probably improve compliance, but many people would continue to speed.
A far more effective (and cheaper) solution is to change the design of the road: to build speed humps, roundabouts and so on. This can create total compliance because you physically can't drive over the speed limit.
The same is true in IT systems. This can be a good thing: a well-designed system will ensure that important considerations are not forgotten by public servants who are often busy and under pressure.
However, it also means your options can be limited by the choices made by the government's computer programmer. You can be prevented from doing something, not because the law prohibits it, but because there is no such option in the drop-down menu.
The tragic case of David Iredale, the young bushwalker who died in the Blue Mountains in 2006, is a case in point. When he realised he was lost and in trouble, David called the ambulance service from his mobile phone and was repeatedly asked by the operator to provide a street address. Being in the middle of the bush, he could not. Nevertheless, the operator stuck to the system as designed.
The inquest into David's death disclosed that the ambulance service's call-response system required a street address. The absurdity of requiring such information in all circumstances is manifest. Such situations are more common when we rely on rigid IT systems that do not allow for situations outside of those predicted by the original computer programmers.
Of course, the solution to these problems is not to abandon technology. Instead, we need to be more realistic about the strengths and limitations of the systems we rely on, and to ensure that they are carefully monitored so as not to induce injustice.
SOURCE
Dumb cops treat them as an oracle when they should be treated as being no more reliable than any other kind of evidence
We humans have a persistent fear that the machines we endow with artificial intelligence will one day turn against us. Of course, deep down we know such concerns are irrational. Life is much easier if we accept that even though it might have burnt the bread, the toaster is basically on our side and doing its best.
Our natural instincts dulled, we let our guard down. And so, if you truly fear technology, expect to be dismissed as a Luddite or worse. I know all this, and yet I truly fear technology. Specifically, I fear how we rely on it; how we outsource our duty of care to computers that in fact rely on us to do their work properly.
When police and other law enforcement agencies, which have the power to deprive us of our liberty, place absolute trust in imperfect systems, the resulting injustice can be terrible and very difficult to remedy.
The Herald recently reported that a long-running glitch in the NSW government computer system is causing young people to be arrested and detained for breaching non-existent or expired bail conditions. Often these people must wait until they are brought before a court before they are released.
For more than three years, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, the Public Interest Law Clearing House and Legal Aid NSW have been trying to resolve this. But still the cases have mounted up, leading to the repeated injustice of wrongful detention and a government compensation bill that runs into millions of dollars.
Even when a detained youth has tried to explain the true situation - in one case, his mother offered to fax to the police court documents containing the correct information - the authorities have doggedly relied on the police IT system. By presuming their technology to be infallible, these errors have caused a significant injustice.
An IT system relies on people to input the data. But from time to time, we fallible humans enter the information wrongly; sometimes it doesn't go in at all. While it's convenient to assume the computer is always right, that assumption should never prevail over clear evidence to the contrary.
There is also another, more subtle problem with IT systems. Their design constrains our actions - often more effectively than any law ever could. This principle does not just apply to IT, but to other forms of design as well. Take, for example, road safety. If the government wants to limit drivers' speed on a suburban road to 40km/h, the conventional method would be to impose a speed limit. If policed rigorously, this will probably improve compliance, but many people would continue to speed.
A far more effective (and cheaper) solution is to change the design of the road: to build speed humps, roundabouts and so on. This can create total compliance because you physically can't drive over the speed limit.
The same is true in IT systems. This can be a good thing: a well-designed system will ensure that important considerations are not forgotten by public servants who are often busy and under pressure.
However, it also means your options can be limited by the choices made by the government's computer programmer. You can be prevented from doing something, not because the law prohibits it, but because there is no such option in the drop-down menu.
The tragic case of David Iredale, the young bushwalker who died in the Blue Mountains in 2006, is a case in point. When he realised he was lost and in trouble, David called the ambulance service from his mobile phone and was repeatedly asked by the operator to provide a street address. Being in the middle of the bush, he could not. Nevertheless, the operator stuck to the system as designed.
The inquest into David's death disclosed that the ambulance service's call-response system required a street address. The absurdity of requiring such information in all circumstances is manifest. Such situations are more common when we rely on rigid IT systems that do not allow for situations outside of those predicted by the original computer programmers.
Of course, the solution to these problems is not to abandon technology. Instead, we need to be more realistic about the strengths and limitations of the systems we rely on, and to ensure that they are carefully monitored so as not to induce injustice.
SOURCE
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
The charming Victoria police again
Cop brawl at railway station linked to drug corruption claim
ACCUSATIONS a colleague dealt drugs is suspected of sparking a wild fight between Victoria Police officers at a suburban railway station.
The Herald Sun believes bad blood began about a year ago when an officer from a suburban station officially reported a fellow member had tried to sell him drugs. The Ethical Standards Department opened an investigation into those claims. Police sources said the subject of the inquiry was unhappy at finding himself under scrutiny from the corruption investigators.
The rancour that had been generated turned physical when the member who had been accused of selling drugs and officers from the station of his accuser came across each other at an inner suburban hotel last month.
Words were exchanged between the parties and they left the pub soon after, allegedly to settle the matter elsewhere. The group converged at a nearby railway station where a bloody fracas erupted.
Security camera footage capturing much of the violence is being examined by investigators. Witnesses have also been interviewed about what they saw and events leading up to the fight.
One group of combatants was from a specialist unit of the force and the other from a busy suburban station.
Force command is believed to be deeply upset by the ugly confrontation and senior officers have been briefed to ensure the matter is thoroughly investigated. ESD detectives are investigating the railway station fight, which left one policeman in the back of an ambulance with head and facial injuries. He has since been discharged from hospital.
It is believed all officers involved in the fighting were off duty. No internal or criminal charges have been laid over the incident. Victoria Police yesterday declined to comment on claims the drug allegation was linked to the violence.
SOURCE
Cop brawl at railway station linked to drug corruption claim
ACCUSATIONS a colleague dealt drugs is suspected of sparking a wild fight between Victoria Police officers at a suburban railway station.
The Herald Sun believes bad blood began about a year ago when an officer from a suburban station officially reported a fellow member had tried to sell him drugs. The Ethical Standards Department opened an investigation into those claims. Police sources said the subject of the inquiry was unhappy at finding himself under scrutiny from the corruption investigators.
The rancour that had been generated turned physical when the member who had been accused of selling drugs and officers from the station of his accuser came across each other at an inner suburban hotel last month.
Words were exchanged between the parties and they left the pub soon after, allegedly to settle the matter elsewhere. The group converged at a nearby railway station where a bloody fracas erupted.
Security camera footage capturing much of the violence is being examined by investigators. Witnesses have also been interviewed about what they saw and events leading up to the fight.
One group of combatants was from a specialist unit of the force and the other from a busy suburban station.
Force command is believed to be deeply upset by the ugly confrontation and senior officers have been briefed to ensure the matter is thoroughly investigated. ESD detectives are investigating the railway station fight, which left one policeman in the back of an ambulance with head and facial injuries. He has since been discharged from hospital.
It is believed all officers involved in the fighting were off duty. No internal or criminal charges have been laid over the incident. Victoria Police yesterday declined to comment on claims the drug allegation was linked to the violence.
SOURCE
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